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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25023379">Flutter Fairy Island</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/postmoderne/pseuds/postmoderne'>postmoderne</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>One Piece</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Fairies, Fairy Tale Elements, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, M/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 07:21:18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,805</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25023379</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/postmoderne/pseuds/postmoderne</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“Alright, so… once upon a time… there was a brave knight, his name was, uh…”, the bushy-haired fairy looks at Zoro. <br/>“Z-Zoro. Roronoa Zoro.”<br/>“His name was Roronoa Zoro. And Zoro, the gracious knight, was unhappily in love with a--”<br/>“What?! In love?! Do you want to die…!”</p>
<p>*<br/>Welcome to Flutter Fairy Island, please enjoy your stay!</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Roronoa Zoro/Vinsmoke Sanji</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>89</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Flutter Fairy Island</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Oh! A pirate ship!”</p>
<p>“What a treat!”</p>
<p>
  <em>*</em>
</p>
<p>Merry is drifting lazily in the bay, anchoring close to the island’s shore – not too close to scrap Merry’s bow or anything but it’s annoying nonetheless to not have an actual dock; this island doesn’t seem to have a pier or harbor, just the shore, a nice white beach. The island itself doesn’t appear to be too big but well vegetated, with a large colorful forest beginning close to the beach. Zoro doesn’t expect them to find a huge city here but Sanji has been complaining about provisions running low for weeks now, so Nami had decided that they would visit the next island they came upon – and that would be this nameless summer isle.</p>
<p>“Heh”, Zoro casts the anchor and jumps off of the ship into the shallow waters, a long sturdy rope in hand. Water splishes up around him, droplets glittering in the sun. It’s a pleasant and warm day, so he doesn’t mind getting wet. He wades through the water, the sun shining brightly, standing high in the sky, making the whole scenery look dreamlike and fantastical. Hearing another loud splash, Zoro turns around to see that the cook has also taken a leap into the water with a rope. Unlike Zoro himself, who is wearing the same clothes as usual, Sanji is not wearing his typical slacks and dress shoes. The cook instead opted for blue-white striped booty shorts, revealing long planes of pale skin. Zoro licks his lips and decides not to comment on it and focuses on the task at hand. The cerulean blue water of the ocean sloshes around his thighs as he continues to walk towards dry land; it is soaking his pants – but it’s agreeable and cool on his skin and in the heat that’s building up, now that it’s close to noon, this is very much welcome.</p>
<p>Now closer to the forest, Zoro sees that the trees are rather thin but there’s many of them. The leaves all look the same, rather broad with round edges, they only differ from each other in color: some are a mellow green, others almost neon and again others are yellowish or orange. Both Zoro and Sanji decide to tie the ropes to two of the sturdier looking palm trees that grow along the coastline. A bunch of birds fly away. Sanji lights a cigarette and inhales deeply, blinks languidly.</p>
<p>“Hmm…You got a strange feeling about this island?”, the cook then asks in a low voice, breathing out the frowzy smoke. His gaze lies on the Strawhat’s ship, then wanders, observing the scenery as the rest of the crew leaves Merry in a clamor.</p>
<p>“What do you mean?”, Zoro asks, puzzled, looking at the cook out of the corners of his eyes.</p>
<p>Sanji shrugs. “Maybe it’s just…”, he waves his hand aimlessly. Zoro looks at the cook’s hands, his long fingers, delicate. But he wouldn’t ever dare to call the cook delicate out loud because that would just unnecessarily either boost his ego or make him mad. Or both. They share a silent moment, before--</p>
<p>“Sanji! Is this a deserted island?”, Luffy shouts and flings himself at the cook, tumbling them over, so that Sanji lands on his bottom in the sand. <br/>“Ouch, useless rubber!”, the cook grumbles and kicks Luffy off of him. Zoro chuckles.<br/>“You think this is funny, moss head?!”, Sanji curses and attacks him by pushing himself up into a handstand and swinging his leg at the swordsman. Zoro parries him easily and one of their usual fights begins. Familiar, comfortable, ever the same. Hands lingering just a second too long.</p>
<p>“Stop it you two!”, Nami calls them out and after another kick to Zoro’s head, Sanji replies with a: “Of course, Nami-chan, everything you want, my dear!”, and Zoro grumbles about the stupid love-cook, ero-cook, the idiot-cook and his eternal worshipping of the sea witch. He rubs the hurting bump on the back of his head.</p>
<p>“The Log-Port is going to take a while to charge.”, Nami muses, looking at her wrist. “Chopper, are you okay guarding the ship by yourself?”<br/>The little deer nods and gives her a thumbs up with his hooves. “Yes, for sure! Have fun, everyone!”<br/>“Let’s go explore the island then, everyone! Bye Chopper!”, Luffy laughs and runs into the woods without another word, Usopp follows him with giggles. Chopper waves after them before making his way into the galley. Robin also starts walking towards the forest, as well as Nami, long-suffering, with a love-sick Sanji clinging to her coat-tails. “Nami-swan looks so beautiful in this sunlight, like an angel!”</p>
<p>“Annoying.”, Zoro grunts, stretching his limbs and sheathing his katanas. “Stupid cook.” He looks at the Merry in the sparkling sea, “Che”, and it’s almost peaceful. Peaceful? It’s quiet, is what it is. Zoro turns around to the forest and—the others are gone already. That was quick. “Shit”, the swordsman hisses and hurries to follow them, entering the woods with a queasy feeling in his gut. They could’ve waited for him, they know he isn’t that good with orientation, those damn bastards! How is he supposed to find them! The further he makes his way into the forest, the denser the thicket gets, the brighter the colors around him are. “Trippy…”, Zoro mutters under his breath, cutting through bushes with his swords. How long has it been, Zoro wonders, there is no way the others are this fast… he’s lost. No doubt. He roars and Wado cuts through the trunk of one of those darned trees as if it were made of butter.</p>
<p>“Oh look, there’s another one!”, a high squeaky voice suddenly rings through the trees. <br/>“A piece of lawn?”, another voice, equally high and squeaky, replies to the first one. <br/>“Hey!”, Zoro shouts, irritated. “Who are you?!”, he starts looking around frantically but he can’t detect any bodies, no movement in the leaves of the trees around him. No movement in the bushes surrounding him. Pitchy laughter resounds from the trees and it sends a shudder down Zoro’s spine. <br/>“He’s going to be the knight, what do you think, Ene?”, the first voice asks. <br/>“The hero! He’s gonna save the prince! Great idea, May!”, the second voice answers. “Plant knight!” Both of the voices sound like nails on a chalkboard, penetrating Zoro’s ear canals like a spiky arrow.<br/>“Stop that! Let’s fight!”, Zoro exclaims angrily. He doesn’t like this, at all, doesn’t like to be made fun of. “Show yourselves!” He can’t fight an invisible enemy.<br/>“He’s got gall and sass, I like him!”, the first voice giggles shrilly and it’s suddenly very close but Zoro still can’t see them. Then – a face. A pointy face with violet skin and big purple eyes, right in front of Zoro. The swordsman stumbles back. “What the—”</p>
<p>“Huhu! I’m May! Welcome to Flutter Fairy Island!”, May smiles and Zoro notices the butterfly wings on the creature’s back, as well as their short pastel pink hair that curls on top of their head. They look like one of those hand-made candies Sanji likes to spend hours on and that he never gives to Zoro.<br/>“What idiotic name is Flutter Fai--! AH!”<br/>“Buh!”, May squeals and blows some kind of powder into Zoro’s face, who promptly starts feeling dizzy. He tries to fight the dizziness, tries to slash the fairy’s face but he sways, tumbles and finally passes out, the world around him going dark.</p>
<p>*</p>
<p>He wakes up feeling drunk and weary. Zoro rubs his eyes and pushes himself into a sitting position, becoming more and more aware of his surroundings. He’s on the floor, still in the forest but the trees look differently in this part. Thicker trunks, conifers, foliage trees with darker leaves, dark green, almost blueish colors. His brain throbs painfully and he feels even more disoriented than he usually does anyway. What the hell happened? He was out just like that? Because of a bit of dust?</p>
<p>“Eh?!”, Zoro looks down at himself and sees that he’s not wearing his own clothes anymore but instead he’s got on a dark green shirt with long sleeves and lacing holding the collar together. The shirt is stuffed into dark breeches, which are stuffed into brown leather boots that reach just below Zoro’s knees. Other than that, he’s also wearing a dark brown vest and a thick brown belt buckled on top, his katanas attached to the belt. He jumps up and pats himself down. “Argh, I look like a—”</p>
<p>“Oh, Mister Knight, you’re awake!”, the fairy Zoro had the displeasure to meet earlier flutters towards him and grins, showing off their pointy teeth. <br/>“Knight? I’m a swordsman! Explain this! What is going on?”, Zoro asks irritably, trying to seize the creature by their throat. Unfortunately, May, if Zoro recalls correctly, doesn’t seem to be as corporeal as Zoro would like them to be. May squeaks and turns into jelly, gliding out of and away from Zoro’s grip. Another fairy turns up out of nowhere, additionally pushing Zoro away. <br/>“I’ll explain, calm down, Mister Knight!”, the new fairy assures him. This fairy also has a strange skin tone, purplish but a tinge redder than May and their hair is a whole lot bushier and of a turquoise color. Zoro crosses his arms, feeling unsatisfied and still murderous. He’s a hotheaded jerk as Sanji would say but even Zoro knows when to fight and when to wait and listen.</p>
<p>“Alright, so… once upon a time… there was a brave knight, his name was, uh…”, the bushy-haired fairy looks at Zoro. May giggles childishly and flutters around the swordman’s head, now half the size they were before. Zoro’s eyebrow twitches. <br/><br/>“Z-Zoro. Roronoa Zoro.”</p>
<p>“His name was Roronoa Zoro. And Zoro, the gracious knight, was unhappily in love with a--”</p>
<p>“What?! In love?! Do you want to die…!”, Zoro shouts, which earns him a hit to the head by a stick May seems to have gathered up from somewhere to defend themselves. Zoro curses underneath his breath. He is not in love with anyone, silly fairies. They have the wrong Strawhat, he isn’t Sanji with his exasperating infatuation with all women on the Grand Line. In love... the audacity. In love... in love? </p>
<p>“—beautiful royal. Unfortunately, his lover was captured by an evil witch and put into the highest tower of an enchanted castle in the middle of the bewitched forest. Of course, the brave knight wasted no moment and went to save his one true love, as well as some of his friends, who were also captured. To be continued?”, the fairy concludes their story solemnly.</p>
<p>May applauds enthusiastically: “Fantastic, Ene! You’re the born story-teller!”, and Ene bows a little. Zoro is fuming.</p>
<p>“You kidnapped my crew?!”</p>
<p>“Well, <em>kidnapped</em> is such a harsh way to phrase it. But yes, essentially, that’s what we did, yeah.”, Ene nods. “And now we allow you to rescue them, Mister Knight. We allow you to find your happy end!”</p>
<p>“You <em>allow</em>—whatever. Whatever. This is stupid.”, Zoro huffs. “What happens if I just destroy you two instead?”, his hand plays with the shaft of Wado.</p>
<p>“Ah! You can’t do that, Mister Knight! Or your friends will never return!”, May screeches and Zoro halts. Shit. What a shitty situation.</p>
<p>“So, what now?”, he asks through gritted teeth.</p>
<p>“You go off on your adventure to rescue your lover.”, Ene replies sweetly, “Over there is your starting point, just follow the path and you will be faced with your very first task!”, and they point at a small trail that leads through the woods and after another try at cutting the fairy in half, Zoro stalks off.</p>
<p>*</p>
<p>“W-Where is he going… that’s not the path… he’s gonna… miss the first task…”, Ene mutters. <br/>“He seems to be orientationally challenged…”, May shrugs.</p>
<p>*</p>
<p>Zoro isn’t sure how long he’s been walking through this godforsaken forest. It sure feels like an eternity and his mood worsens with every step he takes. The Strawhats have been on many stupid islands but this seems to be one of the even stupider ones, as it isn’t even outright dangerous, just endlessly annoying. Those fairies don’t seem to be extraordinarily threatening but Zoro wouldn’t dare to underestimate them. Not too much, at least. He’s sure he could take them easily, if only they wouldn’t disappear into thin air in the blink of an eye. His new clothes are itchy. “Mister Knight…”, he grumbles in a mocking voice. “Silly. Idiotic. I’m a swordsman, they should show me some respect.”</p>
<p>The forest clears out before him and a small river appears, as if by magic. Probably by magic. Zoro looks around and sure enough, there’s a bridge and. Oh. Zoro steps closer.</p>
<p>“If you want to cross this bridge, you need to answer three questions correctly!”, a long-nosed man in a cloak tells Zoro as he is about to step onto the bridge. So. This seems to be his first task, great. The man in the cloak lets out a laugh that Zoro guesses was supposed to be scary or even intimidating.</p>
<p>“Usopp?”, Zoro wonders, looking at the cloaked figure with squinty eyes.</p>
<p>“Oh, uh.”, Usopp scratches his neck. “Well, yeah, it is me.”</p>
<p>“Do you know what all this is?”, Zoro asks and puts his hand on the hilts of his katanas.</p>
<p>“The fairies told me to play my part and trust me, after a long fight, the great captain Usopp—bowed down and accepted his fate. Heh.”</p>
<p>“Ah, cowardly captain Usopp, then.”, Zoro muses and stares the sniper down. Usopp is wearing a long dark coat with a hood made out of fur and he’s holding a wooden staff in his right hand. So Zoro isn’t the only one who got a makeover. He tries to suppress a grin.</p>
<p>“Not fair!”, Usopp complains. “Not like I chose to be kidnapped by fae folk! I want to go back to Merry and sail far away from here but May and Eeny… Ene told me, we can only leave if <em>you</em> complete all tasks and rescue the princess.” The sniper fiddles with the cloth of his cloak. “And they have scary fairy magic, so…”</p>
<p>“Which princess is this anyway? Is it someone from the crew?”, Zoro wonders, rubbing his chin, then grumbles: “Oh no, it’s Nami, isn’t it. Damn. She can save herself…”</p>
<p>“Eh, Zoro, don’t be such a mean grump. Anyway, I don’t know who it is, they didn’t specify. But I have to ask you my three questions still, otherwise you can’t move on. And I can’t either, look, I’m bound to this bridge.”, Usopp points to his foot that’s indeed shackled to the cornerstone of the bridge.</p>
<p>“Fine. Ask away.”</p>
<p>“Okay, first question: <em>If you have me, you want to share me. If you share me, you don’t have me. What am I</em>?”</p>
<p>“Wait, these are riddles?”, Zoro asks, scratching the back of his neck. Oh boy. He’s not good with—this and all that.</p>
<p>“What did you think the questions were going to be? Your favorite color?!”, Usopp sighs.</p>
<p>Zoro shrugs. “Do I have to answer these correctly?”</p>
<p>“I assume.”, Usopp guesses.</p>
<p>“Ah. Let me think…”, Zoro taps his finger to his forehead in a repeated motion, like a woodpecker. He manages to come up with exactly nothing while Usopp gawks at him.</p>
<p>“Are you really this stupid?”, Usopp questions, his body posture inflating visibly.</p>
<p>“Give me a hint then, braniac.”, Zoro hisses. He’s not an idiot, he’s just really bad with things like riddles. He’s the brawns, not the brains of the crew.</p>
<p>“You can’t give him a hint, bridge troll!”, a shrill voice yells from somewhere. One of the fairies. They’re watching him. And probably making fun of him, those silly little--</p>
<p>“He can’t even get the first question, how is he going to get three?!”, Usopp yells back, gesticulating wildly. He doesn’t get a reply. “Fantastic. Just try, Zoro. Give it your everything, it’s not that difficult.”, the sniper says and turns to Zoro. “You’re so smart, Mister Knight, you’re the best! The princess needs you to save her!”</p>
<p>“Don’t act like some kind of cheerleader!”, Zoro flicks Usopp’s nose. “I’m trying! Is it onigiri? But if I share that, I would still have a bit of the food myself…”, Zoro puzzles. “What else would I want to share? A blanket?”</p>
<p>Usopp hits his face with his palm.</p>
<p>“Might be a fight. I want to share a fight with someone but if I fight, I… uh…”, Zoro continues his thoughts out loud. And this was supposed to be easy? Why can’t it be arm wrestling or drinking?</p>
<p>Suddenly, he hears wings flutter and the fairy with the bushy turquoise hair, Ene, Zoro recalls, hovers next to him with their hands stemmed into their side.</p>
<p>“I can’t believe how dense you are, Mister Knight. The answer is ‘<em>a secret’</em>!”, they say pointedly. “You may pass the bridge, only because you obviously have grass for brains and we want to move on.”</p>
<p>“Hey! Only the cook can say that to me!”, Zoro grumbles and unsheathes his swords. “Can’t we just fight? I don’t want to do these awful tasks!”</p>
<p>“No! That would be no fun!”, Ene says snippily and pouts, acting as if the task just now was any fun at all.</p>
<p>“Uh… am I free to go now?”, Usopp asks timidly. Ene blinks at him and rolls their eyes.</p>
<p>“Yeah, yeah, you can go back.”, the fairy snaps their fingers and poof, Usopp is gone, vanished right in front of Zoro’s eyes.</p>
<p>“Hey! Where did you send him?!”, Zoro shouts and cuts right through Ene’s legs but the fairy remains undamaged.</p>
<p>“He’s back on the ship, don’t worry, Mister Knight. No harm done. Now, cross the bridge and continue on… you’ve been absolutely no fun so far, you need to get more into character. Hm.”, Ene lifts an eyebrow. “What if I were to tell you… that the time is ticking? That your lover might be… in danger?”</p>
<p>Zoro snarls. “I don’t--. Just… just. Shit. Okay.” He steps onto the bridge. “But just you know--!”, he exclaims but the fairy is gone already. “Just you know that Nami is not my lover!”</p>
<p>“Who said it’s her?”, a voice whispers from somewhere, making Zoro’s eyes widen comically before they transform into angry slits.</p>
<p>Nami’s not the princess he has to save?</p>
<p>*</p>
<p>After crossing the bridge, Zoro has to, once more, walk for far too long. It’s humid and he hates having to cut through these plants with his swords. Can’t the fairies just magic him to his next task? He’d rather take a nap.</p>
<p>“Mister Knight!”, someone then calls out to him but it’s not one of the shrilly frilly fairies. Instead it’s the calming timbre of Nico Robin’s voice. Zoro sees her sitting next to a sturdy tree, on a wooden chair next to a table. On the table are two tea cups full of… liquid.</p>
<p>“Ah, Robin. You got the next task?”, the swordsman approaches her. The Devil Child smiles one of her enigmatic smiles and nods.</p>
<p>“I do. Come, sit down.”, she says and points to the chair on the other side of the table. “I’ll explain to you what fairy May and fairy Ene explained to me.”</p>
<p>With a huff, Zoro plants his butt on the chair and looks at Robin expectantly.</p>
<p>“You see two cups in front of us. One of them is filled with sake, the other one with a slow-acting poison. Each of us can only drink from one cup. You have to choose from which you will drink and from which I will have to drink.”, Robin explains calmly, the smile never leaving her lips.</p>
<p>Zoro takes a closer look at the two cups. They’re white porcelain, with flowers painted on them. Both liquids are see-through, colorless. He sniffs the cup that’s closest to him. Smells like sake. Then, he takes the cup closest to Robin and smells that one, too. Also smells like sake, which makes this whole ordeal vastly more difficult. The swordsman hums in thought. The fairies aren’t gonna kill him, if they want him to succeed with this stupid mission they’ve apparently very well planned out. But—if the poison is slow-acting, that might mean that he will be able to finish the mission but then die later-on. He glances up at Robin, who has her hands folded on the table and just observes. The birds around them chirp and twitter happily.</p>
<p>“I’ll drink the poison but I can’t tell which one it is.”, the swordsman admits and sits up straight. “Is there a trick to this?” He sighs and rubs his eyes, frustrated by the whole thing. “Argh. What if I just pour one cup into the other and then just drink all. Then I’ve only used one cup to drink from. That’s not against the rule, is it?”</p>
<p>Said and done. Before he, or Robin, can overthink it, Zoro has poured both liquids into one cup and chugged it down. “Ah!”, he smacks his lips. He doesn’t feel anything but. Oh well.</p>
<p>“Oh my…!”, May plops into existence right next to Zoro and tugs at their pink hair. “How can you fail these tasks this badly?!”</p>
<p>“Aye! What was I supposed to do?! Free Robin, now! I did the task, even if the way I did it doesn’t please you!”, Zoro shouts and slams his fist on the table with ferocity. “I’ll cut you in halves! Just let me save this goddamn princess!”</p>
<p>“Fine!”, May lifts their hands in defense and exasperation. “Fine, alright. You really are too stubborn and no fun. Ene and I had this whole plot all figured out… with the brave Mister Knight solving all these puzzles… being courageous and selfless.”</p>
<p>“Why does a knight have to solve riddles when he has swords to fight with?”, Zoro grumbles and crosses his arms in front of his chest.</p>
<p>“Because we don’t like violence!”, now the other fairy joins them, giggling. “And we didn’t think you’d have this much trouble with these tasks.”</p>
<p>“Whatever…”</p>
<p>“Okay, let’s hurry this along. Miss Robin, you’re free.”, May snaps their fingers and Robin vanishes instantly, just like Usopp did. Zoro is 100 percent sure that Robin could have freed herself at any given time but why didn’t she? With her Devil’s Fruit powers? The woman just is the way she is – unreadable. At least to Zoro. She probably was too amused by Zoro having to endure these tasks to do anything.</p>
<p>“Also, your captain, the one with the hat”, Ene says, “He’s… well, he escaped, to say the least. Said he was hungry and was gonna find, uhm.” They stop talking. “Well… let’s just—” The fairy sighs and snaps their fingers and without much of a sound, Zoro isn’t where he was before.</p>
<p>*</p>
<p>The forest is gone. Not really gone, though, but more or less gone from Zoro’s vision, as he’s now staring at a castle-like building. It is quite tall, actually, less of a castle and more of a tower. He lets his eyes wander around the mossy stones that make up the tower and they finally land on the iron door that’s wide open but doesn’t look very inviting. The swordsman guesses that inside is where he has to go and maybe he’ll finally find that princess. At the rate this act is going, it has to be Nami after all. It wasn’t Robin, that’s clear. Perhaps it’s someone else entirely… so he enters the castle, a grim expression on his face, unsure if this is going to be another task or if this nightmare is almost over. He steps through the short gateway, carefully eyeing the torches that are attached to the walls, until he reaches a wider room of the castle that, at the same time, is the bottom of a staircase.</p>
<p>The inside of the castle is not much prettier than the outside. Old, ruined, strangely moist.</p>
<p>“Hey, asshole.”, he is greeted by none other than Cat Burglar Nami in a black pointy hat and a sour face; she is sitting on the stairs. Interesting development, the swordsman muses.</p>
<p>“You’re the evil witch?”, Zoro huffs amusedly.</p>
<p>Nami growls and glares at him. “And I don’t even get paid for it. What kind of castle is this? There is no treasure chamber, I am not allowed to go up those stairs because I’m stuck to these stairs-- so all I get out of this is this ugly black dress and hat. That just won’t do. I will allow you to rescue your lover, if you pay me!”, she exclaims and holds out her hand.</p>
<p>“I’m not going to pay you for something I don’t even want to do, sea witch!”, Zoro exclaims. The gall of that girl! The nerve! For the first time in her life she’s dressed just how Zoro sees her. The witch hat goes well with her soulless red-haired head. “I also have no money, as you very well know.”</p>
<p>“Then I’ll just increase your debt.”, Nami puffs and shrugs. Completely dumbfounded and slightly angry, Zoro just shoots her death glares.</p>
<p>“That what the fairies told you to do?”, he asks, miffed.</p>
<p>Of course, none of the fairies decide to turn up at this moment.</p>
<p>“Sure it is. Well, then… have fun walking up those stairs, I’ll be waiting here, I suppose.”, Nami grunts and plays with the shackles on her foot. “With every minute you take too long up there to rescue the princess, your debt increases, so hurry up.”</p>
<p>“Who is the princess?”</p>
<p>“You mean you don’t know?”, Nami gapes. “Huh, then that’s for me to know and for you to find out. Tick tock, time is ticking.”</p>
<p>Zoro mutters something under his breath that the witch doesn’t need to hear. The tower is quite tall, so the staircase seems long and winding. The swordsman sighs, sends Nami another glare and starts walking up the stairs. Step by step by dreadful step until he reaches the room that lies beyond the stairs. He opens the door.</p>
<p>*</p>
<p>Oh.</p>
<p>Oh, right.</p>
<p>Of course.</p>
<p>But love?</p>
<p>*</p>
<p>The cook is chained to the bed, struggling in his cuffs. Spread-eagle he’s lying there, hands bound above his head to the headboard, feet bound to the bottom of the bed, spread apart like a starfish. There’s obviously been quite the struggle going on, as would be expected from the idiot but the chains seem to do a good job keeping Sanji at bay. Zoro’s lifts his eyebrows, almost amusedly.</p>
<p>“Ey cook. Nice frilly shirt.”</p>
<p>Sanji’s struggle stops abruptly upon hearing Zoro’s voice, his limbs going lax. His entire demeanor seems to change in the blink of an eye.</p>
<p>“Ah, I do think it does suit me quite well, actually.”, Sanji says sweetly and turns his head towards Zoro, blinking sheepishly at the swordsman. His hair falls in a soft halo on the pillow his head is lying on, gleaming golden in the light that comes through the tower’s window. A weaker person would have called the scene playing out before them <em>angelic</em>. But Zoro is not a weak person. He has to swallow at the sight nonetheless. At least he isn’t weak… physically.</p>
<p> “Seems like I am the damsel in distress you have to rescue, my brave knight.”, the cook sing-songs gently, almost timidly, “I am so happy that it is you, who has found me first… my strongest nakama, I—I--.” There is no way the blond isn’t busting Zoro’s balls, the swordsman is aware of that – but Sanji has this strange power over him, has the ability to manipulate and trigger Zoro if he wishes to do so and Zoro – being a bit simple at times – lets that happen. Willingly, sometimes, unwillingly… at other times.</p>
<p>Zoro steps closer to the bed with the helpless Sanji on it, looking almost frail in his ruffled white shirt that’s too big for him, making him look tiny and delicate. The cook glances up at him from under his eyelashes and Zoro blushes despite himself. Much of Sanji’s creamy chest is visible, the shirt falling open to expose titillating skin and the pinkish hint of a nipple. The swordsman swallows again, nervously, ah, the cook is just lying there, long legs and arms—</p>
<p>Oh yes, Sanji knows how to get to Zoro.</p>
<p>“C-Come a little closer, Z-Zoro…”, Sanji whispers, voice soft and Zoro leans closer. “Y-You know how it is in fairy tales… to free the princess, the hero has to…”, Sanji licks his lips and purses them slightly. Zoro opens his mouth and gasps a little, leaning down and closer and closer— oh, he feels the cook’s breath—closer still—until he hears a RRRRRIPPP and with a powerful SNAP, the cook has freed his legs and kicked the swordsman mercilessly across the room.</p>
<p>“You fucking thought, you perverted algae! First, I get drugged and kidnapped by some assholes who call themselves Flutter Fairy Something, then I get cuffed after struggling too much against the clothing change and drugged again and then I wake up to your plant-based ass coming in here trying to deflower the hapless prince!”, Sanji spits and struggles still with his bound arms, thrusting his legs up and doing a backwards somersault, breaking the chains of his arms with his feet. “Shitty fairies, shitty swordsman!”, Sanji hisses and rubs his bruised wrists, glaring at Zoro, who is in the process of getting up from where he was kicked onto the floor.</p>
<p>“You shitty cook! Deflowering you?! There’s no deflowering you! If anything, you’re the pervert!”, Zoro exclaims heatedly and jumps back on his feet in a jolt. “We did it in the galley just before anchoring at this godforsaken island! And I was not the one requesting cho--”</p>
<p>“Shut it, marimo!”, Sanji’s face goes red as he continuously rubs his sore wrists. “That was just because, uhm… just shut the hell up, bastard!” He looks away, obviously embarrassed, and stares at the bed that is now in tatters, after Sanji’s powerful legs had come down on it. Zoro sighs.</p>
<p>“Cook.”, Zoro says and walks up behind him, putting his hands on Sanji’s waist, feeling the fine silk of the shirt under his fingers. Sanji turns his head slightly as Zoro’s face inches closer. Zoro’s heart pounds in his chest, like always when he is this close to the other man.</p>
<p>“Hm?”, Sanji breathes.</p>
<p>“Admit it.”, Zoro demands, voice barely above a whisper.</p>
<p>“Admit what?”, Sanji leans into Zoro’s touch, their lips only mere inches apart.</p>
<p>“You like me, prince.”</p>
<p>“I d—”</p>
<p>The door of the room bursts out of its frame, followed by a loud “SANJI!” and Luffy’s rubber arm and fist. Instantly, Zoro’s hands leave Sanji’s waist and the cook takes a quick step away. The crew doesn’t know about anything intimate they do and Sanji wants it to stay that way, Zoro knows that and is, obviously, fine with it. They just sometimes help each other with their sexual urges. Two young men on the sea for long periods of time, with none of the ladies willing to—not that Zoro is interested in Robin or, he cringes, Nami. Sanji is, naturally, but him getting with his beloved ladies is little more wishful thinking.</p>
<p>“I’M HUNGRY!”, Luffy whines. Behind him, Nami steps into the room and looks around.</p>
<p>“This is the lamest fairy tale ever.”, she says, clearly disappointed. She has gotten rid of her witch costume on the way up, it seems. She’s back to wearing her usual clothes.</p>
<p>“Nami-swan! I’m so lucky that you are here!”, Sanji instantly warbles and makes kissy faces at her.</p>
<p>“Yeah right.”, Nami rolls her eyes. “So, now what? Where are those fairies?”</p>
<p>May and Ene spring into existence at her words, butterfly wings fluttering. “This is the worst. This went absolutely terrible. We didn’t even get a happy end kiss.”, the pink-haired one moans. “You’re the worst bunch of pirates who have come to this island yet.”</p>
<p>“Thank you!”, Luffy laughs. Nami sighs. Zoro crosses his arms and Sanji shakes his head, both of their faces are beet red.</p>
<p>“Well. I guess this is done now.”, May muses. “Congrats to Mister Knight and his Prince, even though they are entirely unromantic klutzes.”</p>
<p>“They are.”, Nami agrees and Luffy laughs even louder. “They are!”, he giggles.</p>
<p>The swordsman and the cook stare at them, flabbergasted. This cannot be happening, they don’t know. How would they know? They’ve only done it in the galley, away from any prying eyes. Or so they thought, apparently.</p>
<p>Ene and May laugh along with the Strawhat captain and even Nami cracks a smile at that.</p>
<p>“Maybe this was a happy end after all!”, Ene grins and throws their hands up. “So, it was nice to meet you but we have to prepare for the next visitors, who hopefully are a bit more agreeable than you bunch.”, and with a clap of their hands, the room vanishes in front of Zoro’s eyes and the whole crew is back on Merry. The ship isn’t even anchored anymore but sailing happily on the sea, the Flutter Fairy Island a shadow in the distance.</p>
<p>“A fever dream.”, Nami concludes solemnly.</p>
<p>“Sanji! Food!”, Luffy yells.</p>
<p>*</p>
<p>Later that night, in the galley, after everyone and especially Luffy has been fed, Zoro approaches the cook, who just finished cleaning all the dishes.</p>
<p>“Cook…”, the swordsman breaks the silence. “You haven’t answered my question from earlier.”</p>
<p>Sanji turns around to him, drying his hands on his apron. “Please remind me of the question, Marimo.”</p>
<p>“You like me.”</p>
<p>“That’s more of a statement, isn’t it?”, Sanji takes off the pink apron and hangs it up next to the sink. “Do you like me, Mister Knight?”, he asks and steps closer to the other man.</p>
<p>“Ah—I asked first—”</p>
<p>Sanji looks at him with his annoyingly blue eyes.</p>
<p>“Okay. Okay, I’ll go first. I like you.”, Zoro huffs.</p>
<p>A bright, genuine smile appears on the cook’s face. “That’s good to hear.”</p>
<p>For a moment, neither of them utters another word, then:</p>
<p>“Aren’t you gonna say it back?”, the swordsman inquires, biting his lip, showing his insecurity.</p>
<p>“I like you.”, Sanji says.</p>
<p>“Ah. Good.”</p>
<p>“Thanks for rescuing me.”</p>
<p>“Not that you needed it.”, Zoro argues quietly.</p>
<p>“Yeah, of course I didn’t. Those stupid fairies… anyway, uhm.”, Sanji lets his emotions get the better of him for a second. “About that happy end kiss…”</p>
<p>Zoro grabs him by his still frilly shirt and kisses his prince passionately.</p>
<p>*</p>
<p>Half an hour later, on the floor of the galley, Sanji snuggles his face into Zoro’s bicep and says: “Now, that was a different kind of happy end, huh?”</p>
<p>“I’ll kill you in your sleep.”, Zoro whispers affectionately. </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thanks for reading!<br/>I should sleep. Hope the fact that I, in fact, should be sleeping doesn't reflect in the story too much. <br/>Hope y'all have a good night's sleep!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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